


The Sun's Beauty

by SincerelyYourNightmare



Series: Avatar musings [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Explaining sight to the blind, Firebending & Firebenders, Gen, Slight Suicidal Ideation, Swearing, Toph thinks Zuko is a millenial, but it's mild I promise, mostly just Zuko spouting poetry, oops I forgot to add there's lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24182365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SincerelyYourNightmare/pseuds/SincerelyYourNightmare
Summary: So, Toph kinda wanted to know what the deal was with this 'sunrise' thing. Everyone was always gushing about its beauty and all that, but Toph really didn't see the appeal.Ha!
Series: Avatar musings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745338
Comments: 5
Kudos: 179





	The Sun's Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written from a ten-year-old girl's POV, tell me how I did.  
> Also, I don't know when this happens, ignore the timeline, it's AU or whatever, I just wanted Zuko to have friends that care about him at an Air Temple.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Sparky was up at unholy hours of the morning (duh, firebender!), but somehow Toph imagined that princes could sleep in however long they wanted, and no one could lift a plucked eyebrow. Especially Fire Princes. But the loose way Zuko was sitting close to the cliff edge in meditation pose spoke of the ease of habit. Not even the bee-gulls were out of their nests yet and here the idiot was, courting death at ass o’clock!

The wind was picking up. Toph could feel it pull on everyone’s weight, even Appa. And there His Princeliness was, casually unbending from his pretzel and – 

Was he swinging his legs off the edge?! 

Seriously, was the only one with sense around here the ten-year-old blind girl? She wasn’t ready for that level of responsibility! _Anyone_ else would be better as the common-sense-police. Well, wait. Maybe not.

Snoozles was brilliant but also a complete teenaged moron. Twinkle Toes was desperate to keep being a kid and everyone could see it, including her. Katara wanted to be a mom but had rage issues the size of Appa. Speaking of…

Appa was probably best suited for the title, anyway. You could always rely on Appa’s rational sense of self-preservation. Well, except when Aang was in danger. Or when there was fire, he wasn’t great at thinking when there was fire. Or caves. 

Shit. She really was the responsible one, wasn’t she?

Shit. Now she had to go and do something about this. 

Urgh. 

Toph was extra sure to make lots of noise shuffling over to Sparky’s chosen ledge. Best not to spook someone already with a deathwish and literally on the precipice. 

“So, Sparky my man,” she mumbled over some of the hairs that had gotten into her mouth. “What the fuck are you doing out here? Made your peace with the spirits and ready to fling yourself over, or …?”

Zuko jumped and then half-turned in place. Oh. She had come up on his left. She knew from the others that he had a massive scar on his face that didn’t let him open his left eye that well. It probably sucked at seeing things.

Whoops. 

“No?” he croaked and then coughed softly. It was his polite cough, one that said _what the fuck is wrong with you, I don’t understand human beings_. Toph knew it well enough, by now. Zuko used it a lot. “Um. What’s with your hair?” 

What _was_ with her hair? It’d never done the poofy thing at home. 

“I dunno. Woke up one morning on Appa and this mane just did whatever it wanted. Never figured out what it was, I just wrestle with it until it does what I want. Sort of.”

Zuko didn’t move. Toph got the feeling that he was giving her a Look. Toph didn’t know what a Look was, but apparently it said things that words didn’t. Generally, Toph found out that Looks just pissed her off. 

She narrowed her eyes in Zuko’s direction. Toph had been told by her favourite tutor that she had a very good glare, even if she would never manage to get the full impact without eye contact. That tutor had gone missing two weeks later. 

Zuko twitched again.

“Right, er. Don’t you have …? Wait, never mind, of course you don’t. Toph, your kind of thick, coarse hair needs oil to keep it in check. Didn’t you have servants comb your hair every morning when you were at home?”

Top wanted to know how the hell he knew her family was rich enough to have servants.

“Er. You’re Toph Bei Fong, of the Bei Fong family, presumably. That’s a name the entire Earth Kingdom knows. The _entire_ Earth Kingdom. Your family’s influential and rich. You pick stuff up in markets and such. The best quality merchants had credentials from Bei Fong.”

And apparently, she was not wake enough to put up her rather ragged and pitiful brain-to-mouth filters. Whatever. Back to her true purpose.

“Don’t try to distract me! I know you’re super excited to commit suicide or whatever, but Sparky, not here. That cliff’s not high enough to kill you, only break both your legs and maybe give you internal bleeding. I can make sure you land on your head, or I can point you to better heights, if that’s how you wanna go out…?” 

Toph was being flippant, but if he reacted in anything except surprise and outrage, she would have to sit on him until she could figure out how to stop his deathwish. Seriously, he was still swinging his legs over a dangerous edge. Hadn’t shifted a muscle since he had seen her. Not the actions of an entirely sensible mind. There was just nothing past where the earth dropped off. Fucking _nothing_. Fucking Air Temples.

“What?! Toph, I’m not suicidal. I was just greeting the sun, like all firebenders do.” 

Oh. Well then.

“Does the sun need greeting so desperately that you can’t do it inside? Does it need you to do it so close to a cliff, is that a thing? Do you just like being close to things that can bring you death?” 

Zuko was shifting. Was that… guilt? Or maybe he was just uncomfortable sitting on rocks. Urgh, guessing people’s emotions was a fruitless endeavour even when Toph was completely coherent.

“No, Toph. Greeting the sunrise just feels… right. It feels safe. Routine, you know? It’s always gonna happen, whatever else goes on in this world. It’s like… a reminder. That stuff moves on. So you don’t have to worry so much about what will happen. It will either happen, or it won’t. Either way, there will be another sunrise.” 

“Wow,” she deadpanned and gratefully fell backwards onto sweet, sweet dirt. “That’s some airbender philosophy shit right there, Sparky. You and Aang will get on famously if you spout that rhino-bullshit at him.” 

“Seriously? Do you just not appreciate … Never mind. Of course you can’t.” 

Oh Sparky. It’s like he’d never met her.

“What, _exactly_ , can’t I do? You tell me one thing that I can’t do and I’ll prove to you that I fucking can, you, you, you flutterwasp dungheap!” 

Zuko was squirming now and oh, this was definitely a blind thing, wasn’t it? People only got that particular guilty squirm when they were trying not to mention her ‘disability’ for fear of upsetting Toph, poor Toph with her delicate constitution. Fuck that.

“Zuko, you tell me, you tell me _right now_. What’s a sunrise like?” 

Sparky sat up from his slight slouch. Bolt upright. Toph didn’t know why until she replayed her demand. She had called him by his name, for the first time to his face. Toph made ready to defend herself, but Zuko had turned from her. He was staring over the cliff, towards the horizon. Towards the sun, Toph realised. 

“It’s beautiful,” Zuko mumbled but oh no, Toph wasn’t playing that game.

“Spirits, no,” she decided firmly and sat up. “You tell me what it’s like, Sparky, in words that I can understand. None of that abstract bullshit. You tell it to me fucking straight.”

Zuko paused. “You know, for a ten-year-old noble, you sure swear a lot-.”

“Zuko! If it’s not about the fucking sunrise, I don’t want another word out of your mouth! My swears are honestly earned in the Earth Rumbles I was the reigning fucking champion of, so don’t you argue with me now! I ain’t some delicate li’l girl ya need ta protect, or somethin’.” 

Crap, she was showing her Earth Rumble colours a little too much. Rein it in, girl. He don’t need to see everything just yet. Her toes scrunched in and her equilibrium was restored. Toph crossed her arms tightly and glared at the figure _still sitting at the edge of the fucking cliff, spirits why_ -.

“Oh. Alright.” At her threatening fist, he waved his hands placatingly in front of his chest. “Alright, I said! Well…”

He paused, as if to collect the words he would need to get through this, gasp, _talk_.

“Sunrise to firebenders is like that feeling when you’re cold and you dip your toe in warm water and you really want the rest of your body to feel as warm as that toe, but you know going in too fast will be painful. It’s not like the sun is painful itself, it’s just that it feels like that little bit of danger, you _know_ it could hurt. But it doesn’t. If you know what to do.”

Okay, maybe Sparky wasn’t so bad at this. 

“It comes in stages, really. Firebenders can feel our inner fire wake up with Agni’s rise. At first, it’s a gentle trickle, like an ant crawling over your skin. Then it comes all at once. You know when you reach down into the earth and you have to stop, or you’ll hurt yourself? Well, imagine that feeling reaching upwards, into the air instead of down. Imagine that feeling being tugged _out_ of you. It’s really overwhelming. You never have a full grasp on it, but with meditation, a firebender can learn to direct it into breaths.

“That’s why meditation is so important to firebenders. Meditation, and breathing. Most accidents from inexperienced firebenders happen at dawn.”

Huh. That’s actually really interesting. Tell your amazing earthbender friend more about Fire Nation traditions.

“My sister bent her first flame at dawn, when she was four. Father was proud.”

Okayyy. That’s not really what she had meant. Yikes. Hearing touching childhood stories about the Fire Lord’s crazy daughter wasn’t what she had been fishing for. It was surreal to realise their enemies were real people. Zuko cleared his throat. 

“Anyway. Sunrise.” 

He paused for so long, Toph was ready to leave by the time he continued. 

“You met Uncle, right? Well, you know he makes the best tea, right?” 

Duh. 

“Imagine that you’re drinking the best, most soothing cup of tea you’ve ever had. With every sip, what goes down your throat isn’t tea, but liquid peace. With every inch Agni reveals himself over the lip of the horizon, the peace pools in your stomach, in your bones. His light is warm on your face; his presence is right there on your skin. It feels timeless, even though the very movement of the sun tells you that time is still moving. When Agni is a full disk in the sky, all that peace spreads through your body and fades into awe of having seen another day. You feel _ready_.” 

Whoa. 

Toph could see it. Toph could _feel_ it.

“Sparky, you should be a fucking poet.” It was just like him to hide the huge dork he really was. It would probably let Snoozles warm up to him way more if the firebender talked like that at the other boy. They could bond over it, like the fucking idiots they both were. 

There was an amused grunt and the legs dangling began swinging again.

“Shut the fuck up, Pebble.” 

Oh. Oh spirits. Was that a nickname? Were they friends now? Shit, Toph wasn’t prepared for this. Wait, was that a swear she had heard? Prim and proper Fire Prince ‘Honour’ Zuko had sworn? WHAT WAS THIS?!

He seemed to feel the incredulous vibes she was giving off. Or maybe it was the expression on her face. People told her those could say lots of things without words, too. 

“I learned swearing from the sailors I was with in my search for the Avatar. I was on that ship for three years; I was gonna get corrupted some way or other.”

Yeah, okay buddy. Toph guessed that was fair enough. He needed to be warned, though.

“Don’t swear in front of Katara, she’ll bust a pipe.” 

Zuko’s snort told her he appreciated her wit, but he was still looking out at the horizon. The energy around him became more settled. His legs stopped swinging. His breaths got deeper, as if he was conscious of every single inhale. Toph twisted so her face caught the full heat of the light she knew was shining at her. It felt like … someone was touching her. Gently. Like a hug from a mother was supposed to feel like. Except her mother had never hugged her as far as she could remember. A hug from her badgermole teacher, then.

She sniffed. Fucking allergies. Fucking sunrise. Well, now she at least knew why people were obsessed with it. Especially firebenders. 

“It’s fucking beautiful,” she told Zuko, and then got the shock of her life when he burst into giggles, holding his stomach. It was worth it, being the first to hear his laugh, even if she had to bend a new, wider shelf beneath him for her own peace of mind. 

Yeah. 

Toph was… content. Everyone always talked about how pretty the sunrise and sunset could be, but she had something better. She knew what a sunrise _felt_ like.

**Author's Note:**

> So, self-isolation sucks and all, but it's great for creating that special blend of mania and cabin fever that gets things like this written.  
> Keep safe!


End file.
